


Make A Choice

by androgynousclintbarton



Series: Rival Clan AU [1]
Category: Naruto
Genre: M/M, Rival Clan AU
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-05-11
Updated: 2020-05-11
Packaged: 2021-03-02 18:34:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,584
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24131419
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/androgynousclintbarton/pseuds/androgynousclintbarton
Summary: Where Kakashi has a choice to make. His Clan, or the man he loves.
Relationships: Hatake Kakashi/Maito Gai | Might Guy
Series: Rival Clan AU [1]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1741204
Comments: 3
Kudos: 50





	Make A Choice

It was difficult to keep his eyes off of Gai. To stay focused and alert on the battle in front of him when all he wanted to do was sit down beside his old friend and talk. Maybe even steal a kiss.

That wasn’t possible though. It was never possible. Their last names made it impossible for them to do anything together without risking being caught and banished from their clans.

The last thing either of them wanted was to be labelled traitors. To have their whole lives tossed into a bag and thrown onto the ground in front of their feet as they were told to leave and never come back. As their very families turned their backs on them.

Kakashi had seen first hand what that could do to a shinobi. The smell of his fathers blood still lingered in the air of their home whenever he went back to get some sleep.

So he didn’t pay attention. He kept his eyes forward and focused on his fight. The Shinobi in front of him was desperate to shove their Kunai as deep as possible into his rib cage, but he was just fast enough to avoid it. Just skilled enough to stay out of reach and provide a fight without actually hurting anyone.

Because at the end of the day, even if he denied himself Gai, he couldn’t be the one to cause his old friend more pain. To make him understand what it was like to lose someone close to him. That was the last thing he wanted to do.

“Kakashi!” His eyes darted over to his comrade as he dodged another attack “get your head in the fight!”

He rolled his eyes. They were always so desperate for a fight. Something above proving that they were better, strong, more suited to live. He had stopped listening to those lectures long ago when he was a child. They held little meaning to him. He had always looked forward to running off afterwards and finding himself a nice quiet place to hide. A place away from his clan. Away from the expectations they placed on him.

A place where he could always find one cheery, happy Might Gai.

“I’m doing just fine,” He dismissed, jumping back as another attack came his way “it’s not like they can touch me. What’s the fun in having a fight if your opponent isn’t even any good?”

He ignored the growl that came from both his opponent and his teammate. One was insulted, the other was annoyed, and neither of them mattered much to him.

What mattered, was the dork in Green currently stumbling backwards away from his own fight. That was the last thing he expected to see. After all, Gai was supposed to be the Might Clan’s version of him. The best of the best. Their golden weapon.

So why was he stumbling?

“Kakashi!” his eyes snapped back over to his comrade, noting the panic in his face before turning back to his own opponent. He narrowly avoided taking a Kunai to the eye, ducking down just in time and slamming his elbow into his attackers rib cage.

The sound of a blood curdling scream and the feeling of bones crunching under his elbow told him he wouldn’t be dealing with this particular Shinobi again for a while.

Now that his opponent was dealt with, Kakashi turned his attention back to Gai. He knew he shouldn’t, Gai wasn’t supposed to be his concern after all, but he still did.

And he was glad he had, because as soon as his eyes were on Gai he noticed the panic and fear as he met his gaze, and suddenly the flash of a Tanto coming up from his comrades side for an attack. A kill shot.

Panic took over, and suddenly Kakashi found himself where he knew he wasn’t supposed to be. Doing something he was certain would get him into endless amounts of trouble. He didn’t care though. Even as the blade of his comrades Tanto sliced deep into his eye, sending pain radiating through his face, he knew he had done the right thing.

“Kakashi!” This time when he heard his name, it was from behind him. The worry soaked Gai’s words as Kakashi stumbled backwards and slapped a hand over his left eye. It wasn’t Gai’s hand that came down on his shoulder though, he knew that much. The grip was too hard, nails digging into his shoulder as he was pulled forward and shoved back towards the rest of his clan.

The looks on their faces must have been a sight. Anger, confusion, disappointment. If Kakashi could open his eyes he was sure he’d be met with a terrifying mixture of emotions. That was probably the only good thing about his current situation. The fact that he couldn’t open his eyes.

After all, One eye was screwed shut due to the overwhelming amount of pain that he was in, and the other one likely wasn’t useful at all anymore. That cut had been deep. Too deep for his eye to have survived.

“Are you stupid?” He recognized the voice immediately. His Uncle, the only person who had stuck up for him at all after his fathers death, and the first one by his side in any situation. This time, however, there was no kindness in his words. No patience as he tried to explain once again how Kakashi couldn’t do things his way. How they had traditions and rituals and laws for their clan that he had to follow.

This time, all he heard was anger.

“Leave him alone!” Gai’s voice was distant, further away than it should have been even after Kakashi had been moved. “Let me go damn it!”

He wanted to run after that voice. Pull Gai away from whoever was dragging him away from the fight. When he tried to open his good eye though, he found the situation impossible to navigate. There was no way he could take on his entire clan and Gai’s in his current situation.

“Come on.” his uncle tucked his arms under his legs and lifted him off of the ground, unbothered when Kakashi turned his face into his chest. What was a little blood on his shirt after all? There had been a lot more in past battles.

For his part, Kakashi did nothing. There was nothing to do. So he just laid there, hiding his face in his uncle’s chest as he tried to stop the flow of blood from his eye.

Whatever was about to come next, well he was certain he deserved it.

* * *

The pain hadn’t eased at all since Kakashi had been brought back to his house, although the medical ninja his uncle had called in had taken good care of his eye. It hadn’t been surprising at all when the poor girl looked at him with sad eyes and told him that she couldn’t repair the eye. That he’d have to get used to fighting blind on one side.

An adjustment he was sure he could make. An easier adjustment than the choose that was about to be forced on him.

His backpack landed in front of his feet, pulling his attention up from the ground as he looked at his uncle. The anger was still there, etched deep into his face. It was his eyes that hurt the most though. The disappointment as he looked at Kakashi.

“Your grandfather isn’t happy,” Kakashi huffed. Of course he wasn’t. No one was happy with him “do you even understand how stupid what you did was? You could have been killed!”

“Wouldn’t that be better for you?” Kakashi whispered under his breath “all I’ve been is trouble for you. Always breaking the rules, doing what I’m not supposed to.”

“You’re still my nephew,” He snapped “just because you’re difficult at time’s doesn’t mean I want you dead!”

Kakashi diverted his eyes “you certainly didn’t mind when it was dad…” he whispered, unable to look at the older man anymore. He didn’t need to look at him to know that his words had cut deep. That he had done damage with them.

Good. Maybe for once they would all know how he felt, hearing the whispers. Listening to the judgement.

“Why would you…they’re our enemies Kakashi!” His uncle snapped “Why the hell would you protect one of them!?”

“They’re your enemies!” He finally snapped, glaring at the other man with rage in his eyes “they’re your fight to pick! Not mine!”

“You are a Hatake!” His Uncle reminded him “They are our enemy. Not just mine or your grandfathers. Our clans. If they could have their way we would all be dead!”

“And if you had yours they would be the ones who were dead!” Kakashi screamed “I didn’t ask for this stupid fight! I didn’t want to do any of this!”

“It’s your job…” He shook his head, cutting his uncle off as he pushed himself to his feet.

“My job is to protect the village,” He said angrily “not the fight with other Shinobi from the same village as us. If you hate them so much just leave!”

“This is our home as much as it is theirs,” Now the disappointment was gone when Kakashi looked into his uncles eyes. Now, there was nothing but anger. “if we leave we are handing it to them!”

“Isn’t that better than allowing our family to die in the name of a stupid war?” Kakashi demanded “or shaming our own family for wanting a different life!? For wanting to try and have a better life!?”

“We can have a better life when the Might Clan is no longer a threat to us,” His uncle growled dangerously “So fix your shit and get on the same page as us. This is the last chance the clan is willing to give you.”

Kakashi’s eyes darted down to his bag. A symbol more than anything in this case. A warning. He knew what would happen if he continued down his path. If he continued to see Gai.

To love Gai.

“No.” He whispered, dropping his hands down to his side in defeat.

His uncle’s eyes went wide “What the hell do you mean ‘No’?” He asked, watching as Kakashi pushed himself up out of his bed and reached down to pick up his bag “Kakashi…”

“I can’t do it.” He whispered, his heart aching as he spoke the words he knew he’d never be able to take back “I can’t keep fighting a battle that I don’t want to be a part of. I can’t…” he choked back the words.

“One kid is not worth giving up your entire clan.” His uncle argued with him

“Gai is,” Kakashi said with more confidence than he was feeling. “if you’re all so set on this war, so determined to have your fights…I want nothing to do with this clan at all!”

His hands shook as the words left his mouth. There was no going back. No apologizing, compromising or fixing to be done.

His fate was sealed.

“Get out,” he threw his back pack over his shoulder and made his way towards the door “and do not come back, Kakashi”

“There’s nothing to come back to anyways,” he whispered “you made sure of that when you all killed dad with your hatred.”

* * *

It had been hours since Kakashi had arrived at their usual meeting spot. Hours since he had started his wait. Now he was wondering if there was even any point to showing up. Would Gai even want to see him? Would he be able to after everything that had happened in the battlefield?

“Kakashi!” he lowered his eyes from the sky, a small sad smile pulling at his lips when he saw Gai running over to him “Kakashi! You’re alright!”

“For the most part,” he shrugged his shoulders as if nothing was wrong. As if his entire body didn’t hurt because of the small, sharp pain in his heart. As if half of his face wasn’t covered in bandages to hide away the damaged eye. “How did you get away?”

“They yelled at me, a lot.” Gai shrugged his shoulders “But dad got them off of my back. Told them I had no control over your actions. What about you?”

Kakashi thought about it, looking down at the bag he had dropped by his side when he showed up.

“Did they…” he nodded, grunting when Gai surged forward and pulled him into a hug “I’m sorry.”

“It’s not your fault.” He whispered “they gave me a chance. They told me to choose…”

“And you choose…” Gai cut himself off, tightening his arms around Kakashi’s shoulders as it all sank in “Kakashi…”

“I can’t keep fighting this battle,” he admitted weakly “killing people I don’t want to kill, arguing over something stupid like a clan war that no one even remembers starting. It’s not what I want to do.”

“What do you want to do?” Gai leaned back so that he could look at Kakashi as he spoke “tell me so I know what I need to do to help.”

Meeting his friends eyes, Kakashi examined the emotions behind them for a second. The desire that he knew showed in his own gaze, the confusion, the fear, the hope. He wished that Gai would tell him what to do. Tell him what they needed to do in order to end this all. But he could tell from the look in his friends eyes that he was feeling the same way.

Both of them wanted something to happen, but neither of them wanted to be the one to take the step forward to make it happen. Though, Kakashi figured he had already done that. After all, he had just chosen Gai over his own clan.

“I want to leave,” he finally admitted, more to himself than to Gai “I was to walk out those village gates and never look back. Forget about everything here and start fresh. Have a life that’s fit for me.”

Gai smiled softly “That does sound like a wonderful idea,” he admitted “no more fighting over something stupid.”

“Then come with me,” Kakashi blurted out the words before he could stop himself, his face going bright red when Gai looked at him in surprise “I mean…if you want you could. I don’t…I don’t think it would be as much fun without you.”

Gai seemed to think about it for a second before smiling again “ok,” he said softly “but I have to grab some things.”

Kakashi nodded his head “I can meet you by the gate,” he said softly “I’ll wait there for you. Not like I have anything else to do.”

Taking a step forward, Gai reached out and gently cupped Kakashi’s face “I’ll be there quickly,” he promised, leaning in close and pressing a gentle kiss to Kakashi’s cheek. “don’t head out without me”

Kakashi watched as Gai disappeared from in front of him, off to gather his things and do whatever else he needed to do. “I wouldn’t dream of it.” He whispered to the empty air, his heart pounding inside of his chest.

Was this what love felt like? Terrifying and wonderful at the same time?

If so, he was looking forward to seeing how much worse it gone once they were out of the village and free from their clans judgement and hatred.


End file.
